St. Thomas junior Rachel Murray didn’t think she would have anything in common with Cierra, a Cristo Rey High School student, when they began working together last fall as part of a St. Thomas class. But then Cierra stepped up and comforted Rachel as she dealt with the death of a friend, and Rachel’s impression of the teenager changed dramatically. Carol Bruess writes about their encounter today in The Scroll.

Super Bowl Sunday has become more than just a day of (great) football and partying with family and friends. To businesses, it’s a $3.8 million investment in a 30-second spot and hoping that somehow the message will be delivered in the midst of the clutter. To consumers, it’s about which ad is the funniest or most memorable.

For many, an occupation is just that, a job and a paycheck. The majority of the population will have to work 40+ years, for some even longer, before the possibility of retirement is an option. But for those who have found occupations that offer meaningful challenges, opportunities for growth and play up an individual’s passions, counting the days until a possible retirement seem far less important.

An engaging group of more than 100 people heard Laura Goodrich’s presentation on “Creating A Mindset for Change” at the Master’s Connection last month. Goodrich touched on the elements of change within organizations as well as how we as individuals adapt to change.

Having trouble opening new career doors? Consider the ways an MBA can help. The upcoming UST MBA Forum, featuring Kaplan, helps MBA candidates learn more about opportunities to open new doors in their careers and personal lives and take the first step in preparing for the GMAT.

Melissa Hoffbeck '10 M.B.A. was crowned the 2013 Aurora, Queen of the Snows of the St. Paul Winter Carnival last week. For Hoffbeck, 35, a senior financial analyst at Best Buy, the recognition was the realization of a longtime dream,

Remember when Netscape, Buena Vista and Excite were our options for internet searches and we had to dial up to get to the internet? Then, we were introduced to the Yahoo yodeler and heard from a talking dolphin in the 2002 Superbowl ad touting the fact he learned to talk using Yahoo. Yahoo grew through acquisition, but much of that growth was in response to the more rapid growth of a company called Google.

The Graduate Business Career Services Department organized Shadow Day experiences with 40 professionals from General Mills, Target, UnitedHealth Group and many other local organizations. The Job Shadow experience provides MBA students an opportunity to interact as well as see the world of a leading professional.

Did you know that during the NFL season the average football fan spends 12 hours a week interacting with NFL brands? That goes beyond just watching a game on Sunday, said Minnesota Vikings CMO Steve LaCroix at the Intersections in Brand Marketing event at the Opus College of Business last night. LaCroix was joined by associate professor of marketing John Sailors, Ph.D., for a wide ranging discussion of the marketing challenges and opportunities of the Minnesota Vikings

As an entrepreneur, a seasoned marketing professional and a mother, Joelle Purvis-Allen has her plate full as a first-year Full-time UST MBA student. In the thick of final projects, papers and final exam preparations, she took a break over lunch to share her background and aspirations.

In the present day, there are those associated with the media who rationalize overtly questionable activities with “complicity.” Every public relations practitioner knows the driving force behind news headlines has less to do with news than it does attracting eyeballs, all too often at any cost.

Undergraduate students in the Opus College of Business have the opportunity to study abroad during the fall semester on a UST sponsored study abroad trip called the London Business Semester. A group of about 50 students travel to London during their junior or senior year accompanied by two OCB faculty members each fall to not only learn a new perspective of business but also to learn a significant amount about themselves, methods of getting around in foreign countries and to quickly convert dollars to Pounds or Euros.

Each year we resolve to spend more time with family, to exercise more, to stop and smell the roses and so on. Though these are all noble resolutions, one area that often gets left out is your resolutions for the year ahead in terms of your career. Even if you have already given up on your initial resolution, there is no time like the present to kickstart your career goals.

Before my grandfather died, I said to him that someday I would write a book about our family. I’m not sure that the book on meaningful work that I recently began will turn out to be the book he was expecting, but I would like to think he would recognize its origins.

In Foundations of Entrepreneurship, designed by Dr. Alec Johnson and Dr. Jay Ebben, students learn the concepts of opportunity scanning and opportunity recognition; conduct a self-assessment to help them better understand their personal values and aspirations to help guide their entrepreneurial career; and are exposed to the variety of types of entrepreneurial ventures.

There is a great need for social entrepreneurship with the goal of developing economical and robust systems that provide fresh water and electricity. The engineering challenges are significant but surmountable. It simply takes will and funding.